Gunter Stein

St. Paul, MN - July 11, 2026, Gunter Stein passed away at the age of 84. Born in Bordesholm, Germany in 1941 to Georg and Kate Stein, Gunter immigrated with his family to the US in 1954. He was able to attend the General Motors Institute where he earned his B.S. because his dad was a tool and die maker for Fisher Body Works. Because of his academic record he was selected to attend Purdue University where he received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1969. Throughout his life Gunter sought to extend educational opportunities to others and endowed many scholarships.

His career with Honeywell Labs spanned 50 years and he was widely respected for his expertise in systems and controls, particularly aircraft flight controls, spacecraft altitude and orbit controls, and navigation systems for strategic, tactical, and commercial applications. He also taught control systems theory and design at M.I.T. for 20 years as an adjunct professor. He was elected Fellow of the IEEE in 1985 and awarded the IEEE Control System Society's first Hendrik Bode Prize in 1989. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1994 and was awarded the International Federation of Automatic Control's Nathaniel Nichols Prize in 1999 for significant advancement of control engineering. For many years he served as a member of the U.S. Airforce Scientific Advisory Board, sharing his time and expertise to identify strategies and technologies to improve America's defense preparedness.

Gunter was predeceased by his parents and his wife Nancy. He is survived by his loving partner Ann Wynia, siblings, Gerry (Lynn) Stein and Gisele Davis and by many nieces and nephews with whom he loved sharing the joy of learning and discovery. Gunter enjoyed being at his cabin on Grindstone Lake and walking the nearby forest paths. A skilled sailor he often sailed Lake Superior, the Caribbean and later the Dalmatian Coast and Tyrrhenian Sea. He was kind, generous, and humble and sought to live a life based on fairness to others with a commitment to honesty and scientific integrity. A private memorial service will be held later. Memorials may be directed to MN Nature Conservancy, 1101 W River Parkway #200, Mpls, 55415